Fire rages at several houses following airstrikes on Saturday, May 27, 2017 by Philippine Air Force fighters to retake control of Marawi City from Muslim militants who had been laying siege on the city since May 23, 2017. (Photo by BULLIT MARQUEZ / AP)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — President Rodrigo Duterte said on Saturday he could end the conflict in Marawi City in a day by ordering the military to go all out. But fear of inflicting more damage and killing civilians prevented him from doing so.
“I can end this war in 24 hours,” he said. “All I have to do is bomb the whole place and level it to the ground.”
But since the Philippines is a member of the United Nations and a signatory to the Geneva Convention, he said the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) simply could not do that.
Duterte said the conflict had dragged for days now because the military had been trying to inflict maximum damage to the enemy while avoiding collateral damage, especially to civilians.
Earlier, on Friday, during his speech before troops in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay, Duterte also said his administration had been dealing with the Maute Group in a civilized way.
“That is always the problem, because if we were terrorists, these problems can be easily solved,” he said. “Just rain bombs on them. It will be over in one day. I have 10 jet planes now.”
But early on, Duterte had said: “We fight, [we use] the civilized way of dealing with the problem. But there is always a limit to that.”
He warned that, if he can could longer take it “we will raise the fighting one bar higher.”
He did not say how this would be but added: “We value human rights.”
Earlier, Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, AFP spokesperson, said the military had been applying “commensurate military power on these existing threats and pockets of resistance” – and would continue to do so, including launching airstrikes. /atm